Skiers run amuck at White Pass
SKIING -- All that new terrain on White Pass’ Paradise Basin expansion apparently is not enough for some ski area guests.
In the first 10 days Paradise Basin was been open this season, 14 people got lost outside the boundary, according to the Yakima Herald. Three skiers, each alone, were rescued by the White Pass Ski Patrol. Each has to pay the ski area’s well-advertised $500 rescue fee plus any incidental rescue costs. Others have made their own way to safety.
“They don’t even know where they are,” ski patrol leader Chris Talbot said, noting that two of the rescued skiers used their cell phones to call for help. “They can’t describe how they got out (of the ski area); they’re completely clueless.
“They say things like, ‘I skied off the end of the run and got into the trees, and now I’m in some huge bowl that looks like it’s something out of (ski-film impresario) Warren Miller.’ ”